37 U.S.C. § 353 — Skill incentive pay or proficiency bonus

This section lets the military services pay extra money to members with skills the service needs most, through two different kinds of pay. (a) Skill Incentive Pay. The Secretary of the relevant service may pay a monthly skill incentive pay to a member who is entitled to basic pay or reserve compensation and who serves in a career field or skill the Secretary has labeled critical. (b) Skill Proficiency Bonus. The Secretary may instead, or also, pay a proficiency bonus. To qualify, a member must be entitled to basic pay or reserve compensation, or be enrolled in an officer training program, and must have certified proficiency (see (d) below) in a critical skill, or be training to gain proficiency in a critical foreign language, foreign culture, or related skill. A student in the Senior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program can get this bonus even in the first year of the four-year program. While receiving it, that student also gets a monthly subsistence allowance even without a separate ROTC service agreement — but if the student also receives incentive pay under subsection (g)(2) for the same period, the student may draw only one monthly subsistence allowance, not two. (c) Maximum Amounts and Methods of Payment. Skill incentive pay cannot exceed $1,750 a month. If a member is not eligible for the whole month, the Secretary may prorate the payment, and a reserve-component member may be paid an amount proportional to their reserve compensation for inactive-duty training. A proficiency bonus can be paid as a lump sum at the start of the certification period or in installments during it, and cannot exceed $55,000 per 12-month certification period. The Secretary cannot set different criteria or rates for officers versus enlisted members. (d) Certified Proficiency for Proficiency Bonus. Proficiency for the bonus must be certified by the Secretary every year. A certification period expires one year after the first day of the month following certification. Regulations must say when the Secretary can waive the certification requirement or extend a certification period. (e) Written Agreement. The Secretary may require a written agreement for skill incentive pay, spelling out the pay period and monthly rate. For a proficiency bonus, a written agreement is always required, spelling out the bonus amount, the pay period, and what certification or recertification is needed. (f) Foreign Language Studies in Officer Training Programs. The Secretary may pay incentive pay to someone in officer training who is also studying a critical foreign language, foreign culture, or related skill. A first-year Senior ROTC student can get this pay too, along with a monthly subsistence allowance even without a separate service agreement — but if the student also gets a proficiency bonus under subsection (b)(2) for the same month, only one subsistence allowance is paid. "Critical foreign language" includes Arabic, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Pashto, Persian-Farsi, Serbian-Croatian, Russian, Portuguese, or any other language the Secretary designates as critical. (g) Repayment. A member who takes skill incentive pay or a proficiency bonus but then fails to meet the eligibility requirements must repay the money, following the repayment rules in section 373 of this title. (h) Relationship to Other Pays and Allowances. A member cannot be paid more than one pay under this section for the same period of service and skill. A member can normally receive this pay along with other pay and allowances — except a member cannot receive skill incentive pay or a proficiency bonus under this section together with hazardous duty pay under section 351 for the same period of service in the same career field or skill. (i) Termination of Authority. No new agreements under this section may be signed after December 31, 2026.